Electric flat cables are used for electrically connecting differing components to each other in the production of electric or electronic assemblies. Ribbon cables, for example, thus enable a multi-pole electric connection to be made by a single mechanical connecting operation. At the same time, ribbon cables have a high mechanical flexibility, thereby enabling electrically connected components to be moved or aligned in relation to each other. This favours, in particular, assembling of devices in which differing housing parts are fixedly connected to differing electric components of the device. In this case, ribbon cables enable the components that are fastened to individual housing parts to be first electrically connected to each other before the housing parts are finally joined together to form a closed housing.
In the field of electronics, a miniaturised form of ribbon cables, so-called flex printed circuit boards, is used for the purpose described. Flex printed circuit boards typically have a multiplicity of fine electric cores, which are imprinted onto a polyamide film. In order to increase the flexibility of such flex printed circuit boards and, at the same time, make it easier to control their position within an assembled device, the flex printed circuit boards are often pre-folded in the form of so-called U-, S- or Z-bends. If required, such a folded flex printed circuit board may be combined, for example in the manner of a stack, or folded out to form a greater length.
However, the use of pre-folded flex printed circuit boards in the assembling of electronic devices has several disadvantages. Thus, the folding of the flex printed circuit board means a high degree of loading for the material, which may possibly result in damage to the flex printed circuit board, and consequently in a functional failure. Moreover, in the case of folded flex printed circuit boards, reliable control of the final position of the flex printed circuit board cannot be ensured, either during or after the assembling of the corresponding device. Thus, during assembly, the flex printed circuit board may still be crushed in between housing parts, and a folded flex printed circuit board may also change its position in an uncontrolled manner in a device. Moreover, it is often not possible to unfold flex printed circuit boards fully in the region of their bends. This means an increased material requirement in order to achieve a longitudinal extent of the flex printed circuit board.